Year 1/2
Welcome
Dear Parents,
Welcome to the new school year. We hope that you had a lovely and refreshing break.
We look forward to educating your children and celebrating their many achievements and progress throughout 2024.
Our Learning this Term
English
Throughout Term 1, our first Literacy cycle will consist of learning a range of strategies based on fiction books. Students will be learning to sequence the beginning, middle and end of a story, describe character’s personalities using character qualities, use imagery to determine how a character may be feeling, identify simple and compound sentences, and create short vowel sound words.
In our reading groups, we will focus on a wide range of strategies including the use of words and illustrations to make predictions, identifying and breaking up sounds in words, making connections between the experience of the child and those of the characters in the text, along with locating specific information within a text.
Readers are now being sent home. Please ensure your child’s Kluwell is filled in each night. It is very important that children engage in nightly reading at home.
Reading with your children at home has many benefits, including fostering the development of listening skills, spelling, reading comprehension, vocabulary and establishing essential foundational literacy skills.
Parent Helpers:
We look forward to welcoming Parent Helpers into the classrooms. Please speak to your Classroom Teacher about organising a suitable time.
Please ensure that you have a current Working with Children Check as this is a legal requirement.
Religion
This term in Religion, students are investigating the importance of Prayer, Lent and Easter.
In our 1/2 classes we are currently learning about what prayer means as well as creating special prayer spaces in our classroom. Students will explore the different types of prayer and discover that we can pray to God at different times and in different places.
Prayer is an important part of the life of St Andrew’s. The children pray daily with the Grade 6 leaders, reading the St Andrew’s prayer over the PA system. This is a wonderful way classes can join together as a school community.
With the Liturgical Season of Lent upon us, the students are learning about the significance of Shrove Tuesday and will enjoy a pancake or two.
The children will attend Mass for Ash Wednesday and are reminded that it is the first day of Lent. The students are learning that Lent is a time of growth and change. We will also be learning the significance of each day of Holy Week leading up to Easter.
Maths
During Term 1 the students will learn about a variety of Mathematical concepts.
Counting and Place Value
Our first unit of work for the year is Counting and Place Value. Students will practise counting forwards and backwards from various starting points, and also learn skip counting patterns such as 2’s, 5’s and 10’s. The students will represent numbers between 0 and 100 OR 1 000 in a variety of ways. Students will use a variety of materials such as counters, unifix blocks, icy pole sticks and draw their own pictures.
2D Shapes and 3D Objects
In Shape, students will learn to classify shapes based on their features. They will draw and create 2D shapes and identify their features. Students will also describe the features of a 3D object. eg. faces, edges and corners.
Patterns
Students will learn that patterns are made by repeating colour, shapes and objects. They will identify, describe, continue and create patterns using skip counting.
Location
During our unit on Location, we will work on understanding how to read simple maps of familiar places and how to describe the position of key features on a map
Inquiry
Our topic for this term is ‘Our Class is a Team’. We will explore the essential question -
As a team, how can we build a positive
learning environment?
Students will learn about their own strengths and challenges they face and how they may differ between each other. They will also learn how to navigate their differences by building an inclusive and respectful environment for all to learn.
Throughout the Term, students will develop skills that will assist them in building on their strengths and understanding their challenges.
To share their learning, at the end of this investigation students will showcase their individual qualities at our learning celebrations. We look forward to sharing our learning with you.
Classroom Organisation
Independence is an important skill that the students in Year 1/2 continue to develop with the support of their teachers and families. Students are encouraged to develop this at school through such things as being responsible for:
• Following their class’ morning routine, which includes:
- Unpacking of their bags at school
- Organising their own take home readers
- Organising their personal belongings
• Handing in any notes
• Bringing back library books and bags on their assigned day
• Being punctual to class and ready for learning.
After 8:50am students must report to the office to be registered as being late for the day.
If your child is absent from school it is a requirement that we receive notification of this in writing either via the Audiri app, an email to the classroom teacher or a note handed to the teacher.
All 1/2 students will participate in Specialist classes on a Tuesday - Italian, Art, Performing Arts and PE. Please remember that every Tuesday the students are expected to wear their runners and P.E. uniform to school for Physical Education.
On all other days of the week, it is important that students wear their school shoes and full school summer uniform.
Hats are to be worn in Terms 1 & 4. Please ensure that your child has a St Andrew’s school hat. Sunscreen is also provided in classrooms if you choose to have your child use this. Please advise your child on how to apply sunscreen as this will be their responsibility.
Library Sessions have commenced this term. Please remember to return all Library books and bring along a Library bag, prior to or by the day of your child’s lesson. Class lesson days and times are noted below:
1/2A - Mondays
1/2W, 1/2L, 1/2V & 1/2Q - Wednesdays
Key Dates
February:
- Mon 12th - All students must have a hat at school
- Tue 13th - Shrove Tuesday (Pancake day)
- Wed 14th - Ash Wednesday Mass 12-1pm
March:
- Sat 2nd - Term 1 Working Bee - 8:30am
- Fri 8th - School Closure Day
- Mon 11th - Labour Day Public Holiday
- Thurs 14th - Sacrament of Reconciliation - 6pm
- Tues 19th - School Photos (Full Summer School Uniform)
- Thurs 21st - Harmony Day
- Fri 22nd - St Andrew’s School Athletics Carnival - 1-3pm
- Mon 25th - Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews 2:30pm - 7pm
- Thurs 28th - Term 1 concludes - 1:30pm
- Fri 29th - Good Friday
- Sun 31st - Easter Sunday
As dates can be subject to change, please check the school newsletter weekly.
How to Contact Us.
Lauren Quintal lquintal@saclaytonsth.catholic.edu.au
Gabi Vass gvass@saclaytonsth.catholic.edu.au
Lucy Levett llevett@saclaytonsth.catholic.edu.au
Karen Williams kwilliams@saclaytonsth.catholic.edu.au
Jenny Stewart jstewart@saclaytonsth.catholic.edu.au
Maggie Sproul maggie@saclaytonsth.catholic.edu.au
We politely request that there is an understanding that emails may only be responded to during working hours.
SPECIALIST PROGRAMS
L.O.T.E. Italian
Ciao a tutti e felice anno nuovo.
Dear parents, welcome to 2024. May it be a happy and healthy year for all.
The students in Years One and Two will begin the term by revising previously -acquired language. They will talk about family members using the word ‘É……. si chiama…..( he is….she is.. her name is ..his name is…), and give factual information about themselves as well as their family members. Mamma è alta. Mum is tall. Lei è intelligente. She is intelligent.The focus this term will be on further developing the students’ speaking and listening skills as they work on the topic of Grandparents and their role in a family. They will investigate the different ways of saying nonno and nonna in other cultures that are represented in the classroom and observe similarities and differences in the languages. Nonno Nonna / Opa Oma/ Dadu Dadi. They will then create posters using the newly-learnt vocabulary to display in the classroom. The students will be introduced to the 1st person conjugation of a few action verbs such as giocare, andare, cucinare, leggere: Io gioco - I play, io vado - I go, Io leggo - I read,which they will then use in the written form when listing the activities that they do with their grandparents.They will showcase their learning in the creation of a booklet.In order to help your child practise his/her Italian outside the classroom and to help him/her grow in confidence and knowledge, please access the following links:
https://www.education.vic.gov.au/languagesonline/italian/topic10/index.htm
https://www.education.vic.gov.au/languagesonline/italian/sect19/index.htm
Buon lavoro e ciao a presto.
Best wishes,
Signora White
Physical Education
Hello families and welcome back! This Term in Physical Education the Year One and Two students will participate in 3 units of work involving fitness, athletics as well as a throwing and catching unit. They will learn the fundamental skills involved in movement with and without objects. Students will use different materials such as bean bags, tennis balls and hoops to practise coordination skills. Year 1/2 students will also focus on cooperation skills and working as part of a team.
In the Athletics unit students will do sprints, long distance running and relays involving passing a baton. Working towards the very fun Athletics carnival held on the oval! They will also practice their throwing and catching a lot this term to gain confidence in this transferable skill!
Before school running club will begin Thursday 29th Feb and will continue each Tuesday and Thursday until the end of term to prepare for St Andrew’s Cross Country Day.
Tuesday - Running Club
Thursday - Running Club
St Andrew’s Cross Country Day - Friday 15th March on the Oval
St Andrew’s Athletics Carnival / Kaboom - Friday 22nd March
Best wishes,
Beth Kromer
Art
Hi and welcome to the art room for term 1 2024. The grade 1/2s will be continuing to practise their skills in cutting, pasting, collage, construction and drawing. The children are given opportunities to feel free and confident to express ideas and are encouraged to respond to the artwork of others. In the art room we incorporate both art making and art appreciation and help the children develop a visual arts language. Students will also continue to use a wide range of art techniques in using colour, pattern, texture, line, shape, form and space. We will be continuing to create pictures and designs using various mediums throughout the term such as acrylic paints, crayons, water-colour pencils and textured papers. We will be working with shapes that have a variety of characteristics to help them become aware of the 3D nature of form. We will also be creating art works to coincide with our units of study in religious education and our inquiry units. We are making Dragons and Lanterns to celebrate the Lunar Chinese New Year. We aim to have lots of fun during our new learnings, creations and experimentations during art classes throughout term one but more importantly have lots of fun.
Enjoy!
Mrs. Bartlett
Performing Arts
Welcome to 2024 St Andrew’s families! I can’t wait to bring some joy through music, dance and drama to the 1/2 students this year!
Students will be learning about rhythm and beat this term, and how to replicate rhythm through games such as poison rhythm, rhythm musical chairs and rhythm bingo. They’ll be exploring rhythmic notation and learning how to play rhythmic notes on various percussion instruments. When playing rhythms, students will also practice concepts such as fast and slow and loud and soft to create more depth to songs.
In dance, students will be learning how to move to rhythms and create moves that match the speed and style of a song. They’ll be using songs such as Calypso (Susie Davies-Splitter) and Seven Jumps (Shenanigans) to practice their groovy moves so feel free to put them on at home so students are familiar with the songs. Once they’ve practiced their choreographed dance moves, they can create some of their own!
Towards the end of term students will be using their imagination in drama, turning a prop stick into whatever they want it to be, is it a magic wand? is it a baton? is it a duster? is it a paintbrush? Once they’ve decided what it is,
they’ll act out a scene with their new prop. I have no doubt the students will surprise me with their suggestions and scenes!
Happy singing and dancing!
Mrs Cooper